Thankful Thursdays 11/28/2013 Thanksgiving Edition

In honor of the holiday, I've decided to compile a list of 28 things that I'm thankful (get it because today's the 28th? Cheesy? Yes. Will it stop me? No.). Here we go!

1. My Merciful Heavenly Father

2. A family that makes me laugh.

3. A sense of humor that allows me to laugh at myself.

4. Dear friends that put up with my girly woes.

5. Reconnecting with old friends

6. Getting better acquainted with a sweet group of youth group girls.

7. My bestie. I talk a lot about this girl, but I'm just so blessed to call her my best friend.

8. Parents that never stop worrying about me even though I'm an adult (on the outside only, inside I'm still 12.)

9. Brothers that I count as two of my dearest friends.

10. White chocolate lattes (it's my drink of choice, just in case anyone ever wants to bring me one...)

11. Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving parade every year with my Mama.

12. My salvation

13. Godly 2nd parents (Merla and Steve, I'm looking at you!)

14. Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate

15. Papa's Barbecued turkey. Seriously, if you've never tried this, you must!

16. Foggy mornings, especially when you don't have to go anywhere, and can stay curled up on your couch with a mug of coffee.

17. My pastor and his lovely wife

18. Doctor Who/Firefly/Buffy/Once/Sherlock marathons

19. Finally being grown up enough not to care about letting my nerd flag fly.

20. Growing closer with extended family members because of the interwebs. I don't care what you say, sometimes the internet is a good thing especially when you live so far apart.

21. Coffee, in general...

22. Corny Christmas movies. I'm a complete sucker for them. Don't judge.

23. My baby brother coming home for Christmas break.

24. My infuriating, irritating, amusing, dopey cat, Malcolm.

25. My church family

26. Fangirling on Tumblr with virtual strangers. I know it sounds weird, but I don't have that many people in real life besides my bestie and brothers to talk about this stuff with, and then I'm sure they get tired of hearing about it all the time. So to spare my real life peeps some of the agony, I have my fellow Tumblr-ites.

27. The Lord giving me the strength to get a bit healthier. I could not do it on my own.

28. My readers. It shocks and blesses my socks off that anyone would want to read my ramblings.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Manda

Thankful Thursdays 11/07/2013

Music: (Trying my darndest to suppress the urge 
           to listen to Christmas music.)



Happy November, all! 'Tis the season for planning turkey dinners, trying to avoid looking at Christmas-y merchandise until after Thanksgiving (and usually failing spectacularly), finishing off leftover Halloween candy, and trying (and also failing spectacularly) to get some early Christmas shopping done...

1. An amazing answer to an unspoken prayer.

2. Two splendid hours spent with 8 of the sweetest, sassiest, funniest young ladies making chocolate chip cookies and laughing our heads off. I was completely blessed that these girls would want to spend their Saturday morning with me. Hopefully, I was able to bless them a bit too. "I'm Johnny Appleseed!"

3. My bestie Amber, who always listens to me when I'm verbalizing my over-thinking...which happens a lot.

4. A coffee date with a friend and drooling over her honeymoon tales. (She went to Ireland, Wales, and England, guys. Seriously, that is my DREAM trip.)

5. Snow. Yes, I know "insert eye roll here". No, I don't like driving on slick, slushy roads, but it does make the great outdoors look so pretty.

6. Going a bit bonkers downloading new music from Noisetrade.

7. Meeting another fitness goal (down 30 pounds, yay!!)

8. Peppermint white mocha's back at my favorite coffee shop! I drank two last weekend (no judging). Hurrah, for holiday beverages!

9. My dear friend, Nikki, who supported me the whole way when I told her that I wanted to make myself up as coffee themed superhero for my announcement about our ladies retreat in front of the entire church. Girl didn't even bat an eye. Just said "That's awesome! What can I do to help." For that, I made her my sidekick.

10. Speaking of new music, I'm currently in love with the hip hop group Beautiful Eulogy. I'll leave you today with the remix they did with Josh Garrels on his song "Anchor". Soooo good!